The only AHS female athlete to be named Boston Globe All-Scholastic Player of the Year in 2 sports
Kristy Gleason started her career at AHS in the fall of 1985. It is putting it mildly to say that the high school coaches were eagerly looking forward to her arrival.
Kristy had been attending field hockey camps since the fifth grade and stood out at that level even though most camp attendees were high school players. When she started on the varsity team as a freshman, her skills were already equal or better than most of the players on the team. What she did not have was much game experience, so there were times during her first season when the whistle would blow and she literally did not know what she had done wrong. But with her raw talent and tremendous work ethic, she still made an enormous impact on the team and finished as the top scorer on the varsity as a ninth grader.
Kristy continued her outstanding playas a sophomore when she again led the team with 19 goals and 9 assists and anchored a 17-0-1 team that finished as CAL champs. She was unanimously chosen as CAL Player of the Year and a Globe All-Scholastic in just her second year of playing organized field hockey.
Kristy’s senior year was her most outstanding. She set the school record for goals scored in a season at 29 and this record still stands today. She was chosen for numerous league awards as well as being awarded field hockey Player of the Year for the Boston Globe. A number of Division 1 coaches were recruiting Kristy, and Coach Gail Kelleher was told by the Northeastern University coach that Kristy was the number 1 recruit in the country.
Because of consecutive winter time knee surgeries, Kristy was unable to play basketball until her junior year. She stepped right into a varsity position and was key to the teams’ defensive play. She was a mighty force on both offensive and defensive boards. She also had an uncanny ability to steal the ball, easily converting those steals into layups. In her two years of playing basketball, Kristy was recognized as a Cape Ann League All-League Player.
At AHS Kristy played 4 years of varsity softball. Thanks to her famous coach, Chris Perry, we are able to recognize her ability through her truly amazing stats. Kristy’s final 4-year batting average was .492. That included 3 years of batting above 500. Amazingly, she scored runs exactly 50% of the time she came to bat.
She played the infield her freshmen and sophomore years and pitched 28 games her junior and senior year without ever losing a game. She led two back-to-back outstanding teams to two Division 3 State titles and a 49-0 record.
During the spring of her senior year Kristy also received her second Boston Globe All-Scholastic Player of the Year Award, the only AHS girl athlete to have accomplished this amazing feat.
During Kristy’s senior year at Iowa, she was scheduled to playa game in Boston. It was at this time that the AHS field hockey teams and coaches honored Kristy by retiring her number, number 18, in a ceremony held in the school library. Kristy Gleason was a player who stood out in every way. She made an impact on the community which still stands today. What truly moved Coach Kelleher was that whenever possible Kristy would stop by to work out and to spend time with the high school players. In fact, during Kristy’s break with the U.S. field hockey team, she came to the field every day and spent time encouraging and teaching our players.
Congratulations to inductee Kristy Gleason, Class of 1989.
